Ability, Educational Ranks, and Labor Market Trends: The Effects of Shifts in the Skill Composition of Educational Groups

Dan Rosenbaum

JCPR Working Papers from Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research

Abstract: Large increases in educational attainment have resulted in dramatic shifts in the composition of educational groups. Utilizing the 1960-1990 Decennial Census and other data sources, I account for these changes in composition using educational ranks-cohort-specific relative rankings in educational attainment. For native white males, between 1969 and 1989 accounting for changes in the composition of educational groups (1) explains about half of the increase in the college/high school weekly earnings differential, (2) results in increases in weekly earnings for the less educated, and (3) doubles the increases in experience differentials for the high school graduates that are less educated. These findings raise questions about the common research strategy of using educational groups as a proxy for skill groups over long periods of time.

Date: 2000-01-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:jopovw:146

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